1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a method of driving a light source, a light source assembly for performing the method, and a liquid crystal display (“LCD”) apparatus having the light source assembly. More particularly, exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a method of driving a light source used in detecting small arc noise, a light source assembly for performing the method, and an LCD apparatus having the light source assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a display apparatus used as a monitor of a computer or a television (“TV”) may be an organic light-emitting diode (“OLED”) display, a vacuum fluorescent display (“VFD”), a field emission display (“FED”), a plasma display panel (“PDP”) display, etc. all of which are capable of self-emitting light, or a liquid crystal display (“LCD”) apparatus that is not capable of self-emitting light and requires a light source.
A typical LCD apparatus includes two substrates, each having an electrode generating electric field, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the substrates and having dielectric anisotropy. The electrodes generate an electric field to be applied to the liquid crystal layer. The voltage of at least one of the electrodes generating electric field is changed to control the strength of the electric field, so that the LCD apparatus controls the transmissivity of light passing through the liquid crystal layer to display a desired image.
Here, the light applied to the LCD may be a separately equipped artificial light source or a natural light source.
A typical light source for the LCD apparatus, e.g. a backlight apparatus, uses a plurality of fluorescent lamps, such as cold cathode fluorescent lamps (“CCFLs”) or external electrode fluorescent lamps (“EEFLs”), as a light source and includes an inverter driving the lamps. The inverter converts a direct current (“DC”) voltage, input from an external device according to a voltage for controlling brightness, into an alternating current (“AC”) voltage. An inverter controller equipped in the inverter applies the converted AC voltage to the lamps, lights the lamps and controls the brightness of the lamps. Also, the inverter controller senses a current flowing through the lamps and controls a voltage applied to the lamps based on the sensed current.
When a fluorescent lamp is used as a light source for the LCD apparatus, the inverter applies a high voltage to the lamp to initially turn on the light. However, when the insulation state of a terminal of the lamp to which the high voltage applied is poor, or when there is connection resistance between the terminal of the lamp and the terminal of the inverter, arc noise may be generated from an arc to have an adverse effect on the operation of a backlight apparatus, e.g., electrical arcing may occur between the terminal of the lamp and the terminal of the inverter or between either terminal and other components of the backlight apparatus. Also, the generated arc may damage the inverter. To prevent the generation of such an arc, during the manufacturing process an inspector inspects the connection state between a lamp electrode and a high voltage terminal one by one with the naked eye. This procedure complicates the manufacturing process and adds additional costs thereto. In addition, a situation in which the connection is deteriorated due to moving or usage of a product may still be generated even after inspection.
Accordingly, what is needed is an apparatus and method for stopping the operation of an inverter when arc noise is generated.